Netvvrk 2025 Report on Artist Careers Featured in Hyperallergic

In the survey, 45% of artists reported that they earned less from their practice in 2025 than they did last year. (image of Gustav Klimt's "Death and Life" (1915) via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 BY 4.0; edit Lakshmi Rivera Amin/Hyperallergic)

Rhea Nayyer details the findings of the Netvvrk New Visions survey on artist careers for Hyperallergic. In it she writes,

Findings from a new survey for artists report that 56% of participants are working through debt. That statistic climbed to 59% for those with gallery representation and museum shows under their belt. According to art critic and career advisor Paddy Johnson, who spearheaded the "New Visions" survey, data compiled from over 1,000 respondents indicates that “artists across all levels struggle with a lot of the same things.”

Johnson — who also pens Hyperallergic's advice column Art Problems — said in a phone interview that “the part of the industry that I surveyed tends to be underrepresented,” noting that a majority of market reports specifically focus on mainstream, commercially successful artists and artworks, as well as high-profile fairs and auctions. Per the “New Visions” survey findings, 75% of participants make less than $15,000 annually through their practices, with more than half making $5,000 or less per year. Those figures have done little to sully respondents' creative motivation, though, since 73% “remain optimistic about their careers.”

Read the article here.